Having Thirds

This Valentine’s Day, I woke Will with valentines made by the kids. He smiled sleepily and tried to open his eyes to look at them: One from Julia. One from Charlie. One from our baby-to-be.

“Are you serious?!” Will jolted awake in bed.

“Yes,” I nodded, stunned, my own eyes even wider than Will’s.

Julia was equally incredulous when we told her the news. For a few days afterward, she told people at school: “My mommy has a baby in her belly, but we’re not really sure that she does.”

Charlie took the news straight to heart. A millisecond after we told him “mommy has a baby in her belly,” he grabbed the collar of my T-shirt and thrust his entire head down into it: “Where? Where da baby, mama?” he asked, his voice all muffled from inside my shirt. Julia laughed: “No, Charlie! You have to look from the bottom, silly.” She lifted up my shirt, exposing my stomach and pressing her hand to it: “See, it’s squishy,” she announced professorially. “That’s where the baby is.” Then they both kissed my belly, Charlie cupping his chubby little hands around my belly button to “hug” the baby.

Friends and family were a little less…errr… sweet?... when we told them our happy news. (Grandparents aside, who seem equally ecstatic whether it’s the first grandchild or the ninth). We’ve been getting:

“Are you crazy?!”

“You’re very brave.”

“Did you plan this?!” (Not an unfair question, given our previous pregnancy, but still, it comes off a little “And, you’re doing this voluntarily?!)

And, let's not forget the sarcastic: “Good luck with that.”

It’s Will’s response that resonates with me most. As soon as he had a minute to absorb the news, he leaned back against the pillows, smiled at me, and said:

“I’m really excited.”

Join Fit Pregnancy.com's Managing Editor Dana Rousmaniere each week as she blogs about her third pregnancy.